When the Sun Goes Down--Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Son of a--" Logan cut himself off as a chill swept through his body and he arched his back as his breath was cut off. "Bitch," he continued, gasping, as his eyes opened wide. He sucked in sharp, deep breaths, and chokingly uttered something under his breath. The chill went away, and he nearly collapsed to his knees. "Bastard," he breathed, hands on his knees as he doubled over, coughing. A black, misty fog formed in front of him. He let out a low growl, silently willing the Larth to let him catch his breath. 'Damn son of a bitch,' he thought as he yanked a small leather bag from his jacket pocket and suddenly threw it at the fog.

The fog flickered, made a screeching noise, and charged Logan, hitting him square in the chest. Logan clenched his teeth to keep from crying out as pain tightented his muscles and his heart gave a painful thud. He went to his knees, arms wrapped tightly around his chest in a protective way, and the fog was suddenly gone, having somehow gone through him. 'It's never done that before,' he thought to himself, trying to force the haze of pain away from his fading mind. Darkness ate away at the corners of his vision, and he went down on his stomach, his mouth open slightly as he clenched his eyes tightly closed. 'This is so not helping my freakin' headache. Freakin' Larth.'

And consciousness became a flickering memory as he embrased the darkness.
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Tyler's eyes snapped open as he sat up, gasping for breath. His eyes were wild and darted around anxiously while he focused on breathing and calming his racing heart. He'd been having a nightmare, he knew. He couldn't remember what it was about, only that it had scared the shit out of him and that he just wanted to keep it in the furthest depths of his mind so he would never have to remember it. Shakily, his skin pale, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood and made his way to the door. He went downstairs, expecting to see Logan in the kitchen, maybe drinking coffee, maybe just sitting there like adults seemed to do. But he wasn't there.

Frowning, he looked around. "Logan?" he called quietly. Wouldn't Logan have woken him up to tell him that he was going to be going somewhere? Hadn't he said that they were going to talk today? Feeling something in the pit of his stomach, something that told him that something was wrong, he went over and poured himself a cup of coffee. The coffee was old, cold, and nearly gone. Logan hadn't made any this morning. Why was that? He seemed the type to enjoy coffee in the morning when he woke up, especially hot coffee, not cold.

Had he just gotten up early and made it then, or was this the coffee from last night? Judging by the way it tasted, he would bet his money on the latter. So, if it was from last night, then where was Logan? He wasn't liking this, not at all.

"Logan, you here?" he called out as he put his cup down and left the kitchen, entering the living room. "Hello? Where are you? Logan?" He frowned deeply when he saw the door. It was unlocked, as he could see the lock sticking out just before the doorframe, as if someone had intended to slam it shut from the inside to lock it. Hadn't Logan locked it last night? He was pretty sure that he had, so why was it... "I've got a bad feeling about this," he murmured quietly as he made his way to the door, his bare feet sliding across the wooden floor.

He gripped the doorknob tightly and slowly opened the door, peering out cautiously. "Logan?" Still, there was no answer. Silence rang in his ears and he looked out into the street as he stepped out onto the porch. He looked up and down the sidewalk. Maybe he would see Logan walking back, or maybe walking away. But no, the older man was nowhere in sight, and this unnerved the boy greatly.

'The hell's going on?' he thought to himself. He didn't know much about Logan, in fact he didn't know him at all, but he didn't think he was someone who would just leave without saying anything. So where was he? Had something happened? Come to think of it, he'd seemed...off, last night. There was something in his eyes...what was it?

Taking in a small breath, he started backing up toward the door. He heard a noise off to the side, and a small fit of panic welled up within him. The Larth, maybe? He turned and fled toward the door. Before he could get more than a foot in the house, his hand on the door, someone grabbed his shoulder. He panicked and punched out at whoever it was, and darted into the house. He tried to slam the door, but his wrists were caught suddenly. Nothing was around them, no one was holding them, he just couldn't move them. They moved together slowly, forcefully, in front of him, until they were touching. He gazed at them, eyes wide, and turned to run.

A hand was suddenly on his shoulder. "Easy there, Tiger. Jeez, kid. Warn a guy 'fore you go punchin' like that," Logan's voice sounded in his ear. The grip on his shoulder loosened, and his hands were suddenly free. Tyler turned to make sure it was really Logan, before he let out a relieved breath. "What's got you so worked up this early in the morning?"

"Morning?" Tyler asked. "It's noon!"

Logan blinked, confused. "Really?" He frowned. "Whatever. Anyway. What were you doing out there? Alone? It's not safe right now, kid."

"What do you mean?"

Logan stepped out of the shadows and into the light. "I mean," he said, "that it's not safe." Tyler finally got a good loock at him. The whole front of his shirt was soot black, and there were small reddish-brown stains mixed in with it, along with a few tears. Blood, maybe? Tyler's eyes widened.

"Oh God. Are you okay?" He took a step forward.

Logan held a hand up, stopping him. "I'm fine, kid. The Larth came back last night, got the drop on me, if you know what I mean. I guess I shouldn't have gone out there with a freakin' blazin' headache, huh?" He allowed a small smirk to grace his features for the briefest of moments. "Anyway, I'm okay. It's still out there, though, and for some reason, it's after you."

"...After me?" Tyler asked softly. "What? Why?"

"Hell if I know, kid. But it doesn't like that I saved your ass, so now I'm on the menu too. So we gotta be careful, you hear? You tell me where you're going if you go out, and I should probably be with you. Until this thing is destroyed, anyway."

"...Can you...can you kill it?"

"I can kill it," Logan said evenly, lowly, almost even darkly. "They're tricky, but they can be killed. But for now, you're in danger. So be careful, okay? I've no pleasure in scraping kids off of sidewalks. It's really no fun, not after the first time."

Tyler sighed heavily. "So....what do we do now?"

Logan smirked. "Now? We have that ice cream we discussed last night."

Tyler smirked too. "You and your ice cream."

"Damn straight. Now. Where did I put that aspirin?"
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"The boy is there," an ominous, dark, vague voice stated from the sidewalk. "They both are."

"I know," another, much darker, much lower, voice replied with a malignant chuckle thrown in the mix. "For now, we wait. When the time is right, they'll get careless."

"And then?"

"And then we kill them."

"Both of them?"

"Yes. Both of them. Logan Gray is not the hero. This changes nothing. It just gives us another victim, Selsei. Logan Gray and Tyler Bradford won't live through this."

"Okay, Toga. Why do you have it out for Gray? Last I heard, he kicked your ass--"

"You heard wrong. It was a fluke, a deadly, deadly fluke. His luck will turn, Selsei, it will. And when it does, I'll be there. I'll watch his blood drain away. I'll be there to watch him die."